They had marched perhaps ten miles from their last camp when George Ackerman, who was riding by Captain Clinton"s side, discovered something. He looked at it for a moment, and then called the officer"s attention to it.
"They have begun their tricks at last," said he. "Do you see that dark streak out there in the gra.s.s? That"s a new trail. There! Mose has discovered it, and is going out to see what it looks like."
Bringing the column to a halt, the captain, accompanied by George and some of the officers, rode forward to the place where the scout, who had got down from his horse, stood bending over the trail. After he had taken plenty of time in which to make his investigations, he straightened up to announce the result.
"Four of them varmints has gone this way, cap," said he. "They"ve left a plain trail, on purpose to coax you to foller "em."
"They shall be gratified," answered the captain promptly. "As my party is larger than theirs, I can stand more divisions than they can. I would as soon whip them in detail as to whip them in a lump.--Earle, take a dozen men from your troop and follow it up."
"Very good, sir," replied the lieutenant.
"Have you brought your signal-code with you? All right! If you discover anything startling, send a courier to me with the fullest details. I will follow along after the main body. Be cautious, but at the same time keep moving, for we ought to be within striking distance of those rascals in a few hours more."
The lieutenant saluted and rode back to the column, drawing his sword as he went. Dropping the weapon behind the third column of fours, he gave the order. "The first three fours, right by twos--march! Column left--march!"
This brought the selected twelve alongside the new trail, which they at once began to follow up at a gallop, waving their caps to their comrades as they rode away. By selecting his men in this way the lieutenant did not happen to take Bob Owens, who rode farther back in the column. The young soldier, who was not in the habit of being slighted when there was anything of this kind going on, was both surprised and provoked at his officer; but he afterward thanked him for choosing his men as he did, and congratulated himself on having been left behind. Mr. Wentworth gazed longingly after the lieutenant, and sometimes seemed on the point of riding in pursuit of him; but he finally made up his mind to stay with the main column.
The troopers presently resumed the march, keeping up the same rapid pace as before, and in a few minutes lost sight of Lieutenant Earle and his party, who disappeared among the sandhills. The latter must have ridden very swiftly, for shortly after noon they were a long distance from the main body, their position being pointed out by a slender column of white smoke that suddenly arose in the air.
"That"s them varmints, cap," said the scout, whose eye was quick to detect the signal. "They"re talkin" to each other."
"I know there is somebody where that smoke comes from, but I am not sure that they are hostiles," replied Captain Clinton. "On the contrary, I am of the opinion that the men who built that fire want to talk to _me_. At any rate, I shall soon know."
As the captain said this he pulled his watch from his pocket with one hand, and with the other produced a note-book, which he held ready for reference. The column was not halted, but the eye of every man in it was fastened upon the distant smoke. When it had ascended to such a height that its top seemed lost in the clouds, it was suddenly cut loose from the ground by some mysterious agency, and floated off into s.p.a.ce. A few seconds pa.s.sed, and then two balloon-shaped clouds arose in quick succession from the same spot, and George took note of the fact that when the last one arose the captain looked at his watch. Another short interval elapsed, and then two more clouds arose, and finally two more; whereupon the captain gave his knee a ringing slap and consulted his note-book.
"I knew I couldn"t be mistaken," said he. "That"s from Earle, and he is about to communicate with me by courier.--Push ahead now, scout, for he is on a hot trail. Hallo! have you found another?" he added as the scout, instead of obeying the order to "push ahead," suddenly drew up his horse and threw himself from his saddle. "How many have gone off this time?"
"The same number," answered the scout, "an" they were goin" somewhar too, for their ponies were movin" at full jump when they turned off here. They"re up to some trick or another, but I can"t tell yet what it is."
"Then we must find out, for it is our business to look into these little things. I should like to know where this trail leads to, and I want--Let me see."
The captain turned about and ran his eye over the column, which came to a halt as soon as the commanding officer was seen to stop his horse. He seemed to be in a quandary, out of which he was helped almost immediately by the sight of a soldierly figure upon which his gaze rested for a moment.
"He"s the man I want," said the captain aloud.--"Ackerman, will you tell Lieutenant Smith, who is now in command of Earle"s troop, that I want to see Corporal Owens?"
"Certainly, sir. May I go with him?" replied George, who knew in a moment that there was something in the wind.
The captain nodded a.s.sent, and George galloped back to the column. When he returned Bob Owens rode at his side. The captain was writing--copying something upon a piece of paper from his note-book--but he stopped long enough to return Bob"s salute, although he did not say anything to him.
Seeing that the officer"s horse was growing restive at the delay, and that by his constant pawing and tossing of his head he disturbed his rider, who did his writing while seated in the saddle, Bob dismounted and took the animal by the bridle, and the troopers who remained in column seized the opportunity to fill and light their pipes.
"There!" said the captain at length.--"Step up here, corporal, and I will explain this to you.--Ackerman, tell Lieutenant Smith to pick out twelve good men to follow this new trail."
By the time the lieutenant had received and obeyed this order, Captain Clinton, who was a fast talker, had told the corporal just what he wanted him to do, and explained to him the contents of the paper he had copied from his note-book; and Bob, who was quick to comprehend, had caught and weighed all his words as fast as they were uttered. He then put himself at the head of his men and led them away, George Ackerman riding by his side.
"Now we are off for another lark," exclaimed Carey as soon as he and his companions had left the column out of hearing. By some chance, he and Loring and Phillips had been selected to accompany Bob on every one of his expeditions, and as they had never failed to accomplish the object for which they were sent out, they began to think that there was nothing too hard for them to undertake.
"But this may not be so much of a "lark" as you think," said Bob; and Carey afterward recalled the words when he found himself debarred from accompanying other scouting-parties on account of a painful wound in his sword-arm. "We are not out after deserters now, but Indians."
"What are you going to do with them if you find them?" asked Loring.
"I shall make things as lively for them as I can," replied Bob. "But I don"t think I shall come up with them; and the captain doesn"t expect me to. He is going to follow every trail and force the Indians to go back to their agency, whether they want to go or not; that is, unless we can overhaul them before they get there."
"I _know_ we are not out on a "lark,"" said George Ackerman. "What would you say if we had to go into camp to-night without water?"
"Gracious!" exclaimed Phillips, looking around at the sandhills, which now shut them in on all sides. "The prospect of finding a stream or a spring is not very flattering, is it? I wish we could find one now, for the water in my canteen is just ready to boil."
"You had better be careful of it," said George, "for it is much better than none at all."
"Is there any water to be found in this country?"
"Oh yes; and this trail will take us to it by the shortest route. An Indian can"t live without water any more than we can, and he knows just where to find it."
"Say, George," exclaimed Bob suddenly, "didn"t I hear Mose say that when the four horses that made this trail turned off the _big_ trail, they were going at full speed?"
George replied that he did say so.
"How did he know it?" continued Bob.
"By the looks of the tracks and the distance between them. When a horse is walking his hind foot covers about half the print made by his fore foot, and the tracks are from two and a half to three feet apart. When the horse is trotting the tracks are not so distinct, the one made by the fore foot being nearly covered up, and they are from seven to eight feet apart. When he is running the print of only one foot can be seen, as a general thing the ground about the tracks is considerably disturbed, and they are from seven to twelve feet apart."
If Carey and the rest of the squad did not learn to their entire satisfaction that they were not out on a picnic this time, the horses on which they were mounted certainly did, for before an hour had pa.s.sed they were very much in need of water--so much so that Bob brought them down to a trot, and at last to a walk. At the end of another hour their riders began to suffer in the same way, and it was not long before every drop in their canteens, warm as it was, had disappeared. Whether it was the parched appearance of things around them; or the effects of the wind, which came into their faces as hot as a blast from a furnace; or the reflection of the sun"s rays from the sandhills around them; or the sand itself, which arose in the air when disturbed by their horses"
hoofs, and settled in their mouths and nostrils,--whether it was one or all of these causes combined that made them so very thirsty they did not think to inquire, but certain it was that they would have welcomed the discovery of a water-course more heartily now than at any other time during their march. Just how long this state of affairs was to continue they did not know, for there was not one among them who could tell whether water was five or twenty miles off. The only thing they could do was to follow the trail and await the issue of events with all the patience they could command.
After they had been separated from the main column for about three hours, two incidents happened which served to relieve the monotony of the march, and caused them, for the time being, to forget how uncomfortably hot and dusty and thirsty they were. As they were riding silently along behind George Ackerman, whose fast-walking nag had carried him some distance in advance of the squad, they saw him draw rein all of a sudden and raise his hand with a warning gesture. Then he backed his horse under cover of a convenient sandhill, and pulling his field-gla.s.s from the case he carried slung over his shoulder, he levelled it at some object that had attracted his attention, but which could not be seen by the troopers.
Bob at once ordered a halt, and rode forward to inquire into the matter.
When he reached George"s side he found himself on the outskirts of a sort of basin in the plain, which looked as though it might have been scooped out by the wind. It was covered with sand, and dotted here and there with little bunches of yellow gra.s.s and weeds. On the opposite side of this basin, which was perhaps a mile and a half wide, was a single horseman, who was riding toward them at a rapid pace.
"I couldn"t make out, at that distance, whether he was a friend or foe, so I thought it best to warn you," said George.
"That was all right, of course. Can you make him out with your gla.s.s?"
"Very plainly. He"s a soldier--one of Lieutenant Earle"s men, probably."
"That"s just who he is," exclaimed Bob after he had taken a look at the horseman through the field-gla.s.s. "I know him. That signal-smoke we saw just before we left the column was sent up to inform the captain that Earle had despatched a courier to him with some important news, and now we will find out what it is.--Come on, fellows," he added, waving his hand to the squad; "it is one of our own company, boys."
Bob and his companion rode out in plain view, and a few seconds later the troopers joined them. Their sudden appearance must have astonished the approaching courier, and perhaps alarmed him too, for he pulled up his horse with a jerk, and, shading his eyes with his hand, gazed at them long and earnestly. They waved their caps to rea.s.sure him, and in a few minutes he came up. The first words he uttered showed that he had already had quite enough of scouting in the Staked Plains.
"Did anybody ever see so dreary a hole as this?" said he as he lifted his cap and drew his handkerchief across his forehead--"nothing but sandhills as far as you can see, and one looks so much like another that a fellow don"t know how to shape a course. It must be just fearful in here when the wind blows.--I say, corporal, where am I? and what are you doing out here?"
"I can"t answer your first question, for I don"t know myself," answered Bob. "I was sent out to follow a new trail we found just after you sent up that smoke. What was the meaning of it?--Carey, climb up to the top of that sandhill and tell us if you can see anything."
"Lieutenant Earle sent up that smoke to let the captain know that he was about to send him some news," replied the horseman; "and I don"t see why the captain didn"t send up a reply, for I don"t know where to find him."
"I will point out his position as near as I can before you leave us,"
said Bob. "Is that news of any importance?"
"I should say it was," exclaimed the courier. "We"ve struck it hot, I tell you. On the banks of a little stream we found somewhere off in that direction--"